2020 Baseball Hall of Fame "Modern Baseball" Era

The Game Room
41

RTFirefly:

Could you please explain this? I don’t question that he’s a significant historical figure for baseball operations, but was baseball moribund before his arrival and somehow made more vital afterward? Was baseball losing potential players to other professional sports due to lack of team mobility or bargaining leverage? I know that football was ascendant, relative to baseball, in popularity in the era immediately prior to Miller’s empowerment of the players, but was that trend reversed through any action attributable to Miller, if at all?

42

The “wildly improved fan experience” part is true. Nats Park in DC, just to take the example I’m most familiar with, beats the hell out of any park from 40 years ago.

But the surge in attendance caused by the new wave of ballparks was modest compared to the surge that was sparked by free agency. Let’s look at per-game attendance over the respective periods:

From 1955 to 1975, MLB attendance was pretty stable - average per-game attendance (APGA just so I don’t have to write it repeatedly), by season, was almost entirely between 13,000 and 16,000 per game. In 1976, the last year before free agency became a thing for players not named McNally or Messersmith, APGA was 16,151. Then over the 1976-77 winter, free agency became real, all sorts of clubs had all sorts of new players, and 1977 APGA was 18,406, a 14% jump in one year. By 1979, APGA was 20,748, a 28.5% increase over 1976.

And it kept on going: in 1988, the last year before the SkyDome opened, APGA was 25,237; in 1991, the last year before Camden Yards opened, APGA was 27,002. In 1993, the year before Jacobs Field and The Ballpark in Arlington opened (and the year of the Last True Pennant Race, but I digress), APGA was 30,964.

At what point can you say the wave of new ballparks is driving attendance? Certainly one isn’t enough. I’d argue that you don’t have a critical mass of new ballparks until 1994, when you’ve got the four parks I just mentioned. But I’d be willing to go with two. So let’s take 1991 as the last year that free agency is the main driver, and give full credit to the new ballparks from then on.

Using that as our dividing line, free agency caused a 67% increase in per-game attendance over 15 years.

APGA in 2019 was 28,198, an increase of 4.4% over 1991.

OK, for whatever reason, per-game attendance has tailed off noticeably over the past two seasons. Let’s look at the 28 seasons from 1992-2019 collectively.

The best season was 2007, with APGA of 32,696, 21% better than 1991. The median season was 2004, with APGA of 30,075, an 11.4% increase over 1991.

In terms of attendance, free agency > new ballparks. Not even close.

ETA: cmkeller, I think this partially answers your question. I’ll try to get back to it later.

43

It goes back to the old argument of what you see the hall of fame. For me it is a museum that should tell the history of the game. For players I generally value performance, but am willing to give bonus points for people like Sosa who had an oversized impact. For non-players I think it is a question of how much influence (ideally positive) they had on the game and what would happen if not for them.

Miller clearly had a tremendous impact on the game and I’d argue a positive one. It isn’t just that he got players more money. He got them freedom, which totally changed the landscape of the game. And while players would probably eventually gotten some free agency without him, I don’t think they would have gotten anywhere close to as much as quickly. For me he is an easy call.

The architects, I don’t know anything about. Was it one guy with a revolutionary idea than maybe. This seems more of a case though that it would have happened regardless and someone was just first.

Boras is a closer call, but I lean yes. He has changed the dynamic between owners and players. He has gotten draft picks more freedom and money. Rules have changed because of him. He has been responsible for moving superstars to teams across the league. Without him there would be agents picking up the slack, but I don’t think they would have accomplished as much.

James Andrews is another yes. It doesn’t seem that TommyJohn was an inevitable discovery and hit has had a great positive influence on the game.

No on Ricketts. He spent money and hired a top guy, but i don’t think that is enough to warrant a hall berth. Rebuilding the neighbor is nice but not unique and not particularly baseball related. Epstein though probably gets in eventually.

Loria of course no. A terrible owner who made baseball worse by his presence.

44

I checked the box for Whitaker with some reluctance. I’m not sure what criteria should be used in the selection process but it’s going to get tougher for the players who are above average but not superstars. There’s been too many sentimental selections in the past, plus attempts to find players selected around the league instead of just from dominant teams. So in the end maybe the criteria should be less strict and not require a career comparable to the Seven Labors of Hercules.

I have no problem with an owners category in the HOF as long as it’s clear that it doesn’t represent the status of hall for real players. Hell, you can add categories for best ump, ball boys/girls, announcers, groundskeepers, peanut vendors too (Yo Kyle! You could be in the Baseball Hall of Fame!).

45

Ten umps in the HOF

Apparently announcers only kinda get in the HOF. One announcer wins the Ford C. Frick award each year. Ken Harrelson was this year’s recipient.

46

Hercules would never have got in the hall if he’d only completed 7 of his 12 labours :).

47

A .583 average is pretty good.

48

I want too be a male baseball player

Baseball - Wikipedia ?. .

49

I nominate Holy Ghost.

50

Beisboll has been bery bery good to me?

51

Maybe there should be a Hall of Fame category for people who were Pretty Darned Good at at least two baseball-related activities.

By that measure, Ralph Kiner would be enshrined for his brief but splendid power-hitting achievements, enjoyable if occasionally ludicrous broadcasting career* and for being an all-around likable guy.

*Kiner was part of the classic 20th century trio of Mets broadcasters along with Lindsey Nelson and Bob Murphy. Trivia time: one of the Nero Wolfe novels refers to a character (I think it was Archie) turning down the volume on a radio broadcast because Bob Murphy had just taken over the announcing duties. Bob was OK but kind of loud.

52

Well, Ralph’s already in.

A guy who isn’t yet in, but would qualify by that measure, is Tim McCarver. He was a pretty good ballplayer, and obviously has been a very successful broadcaster.